Katie Blandford, a double major in history and women and gender studies, received the competitive Undergraduate Summer Research and Creative Activity Program (USR-CAP) grant earlier this year to fund research for her undergraduate honors thesis.
“The USR-CAP grant provided me with an amazing experience,” Blandford said. “In history, primary sources are necessary to make an argument. The USR-CAP grant gave me the ability to travel to Duke and Northwestern’s archives to look through primary source documents. The documents I was able to see have been cornerstones of my honors thesis argument.”
Katie Blandford takes a selfie at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University, where she analyzed the university’s archives through her Undergraduate Summer Research and Creative Activity Program (USR-CAP) grant.
Blandford, who graduates in this spring, said she would like to attend graduate school for history, and she knew that writing an honors thesis would prepare her for this opportunity. She began researching and writing her thesis in spring 2023 and defends her work in spring 2024 in pursuit of departmental honors in history.
“The project takes a lot of self-discipline, but it is so rewarding. It’s also a great way to experience mentorship from a professor,” Blandford said. “Pursuing an honors thesis is a fantastic idea for someone who is interested in earning a graduate degree.”
Her project, “The Emergence of Anti-Natalist Theory During the Second-Wave Feminist Movement,” sets out to define what a feminist perspective on anti-natalism is, explore how the feminist movement was promoted by radical feminists and scholars and understand its impact on the feminist movement.
Anti-natalism, Blandford writes in her thesis, is the belief that women should not have children because it keeps them oppressed, and she focuses on topics such as oppression linked to children, ideas of population control and radical feminist views and feelings towards motherhood as they relate to the second wave feminist movement in America (1963-1982).
Blandford’s interest in women’s history peeked when she took a Women from 1865 course taught by Dr. Chelsea Griffis, an associate lecturer in the Department of History. This course introduced Blandford to new topics that would later inform her thesis research, and with Griffis as her faculty advisor, she knew she wanted to research radical feminists’ views on motherhood.
“Dr. Griffis pushes me to be a better student and historian every day,” Blandford said. “She questions me, holds me accountable, pushes me to think harder and makes me analyze history in new ways.”
Over the summer, Blandford and Griffis worked on recognizing a rise in anti-natalist theory during second-wave feminism and the consequences of it then and now.
Katie Blandford is a double major in history and women and gender studies.
“Katie is a marvelous student who has been a pleasure to work with,” Griffis said. “I am consistently impressed by her analytical skill as she tackles the difficult subject of anti-natalist rhetoric during the second wave feminist movement.
“She is diligent, hard-working, self-motivated, and asks smart questions that push her scholarship to the next level. With her record of presentations, publication and grant funding behind her, I have no doubt that she will continue to be a successful historian.”
Blandford recently expanded her research nationally as a member of the Generational Differences in the Workplace Survey, sponsored by the Department of Management within the John B. and Lillian E. Neff College of Business and Innovation.
Through her connection with the survey and its members, Blandford co-authored an article titled “Childcare Assistance Not a Major Draw for Most Employees,” which connects her research on anti-natalism to long-lasting impacts on worker’s benefits and the low interest in childcare accommodations. The article has been accepted by The American Journal of Management and will be published in December.
As Blandford prepares to defend her thesis and graduate, she reflected on the impact mentorship has made during her time as a Rocket.
“I feel infinitely lucky that my decision to attend UToledo brought me such an amazing mentor like Dr. Griffis,” Blandford said. “Her mentorship, along with the support from both the History and Women and Gender Studies departments, has allowed me to flourish here.”
Blandford is presenting her work in the Women and Gender Studies Student Showcase on Tuesday, Nov. 14, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in University Hall Room 4280.
